Against
party decisions, Senator Bukola Saraki is the Senate President. And Yakubu
Dogara is the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Here are
details of the midnight plot and daylight intrigues that made them winners
The
dramatic election of four key officers of the National Assembly yesterday
unsettled the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and breathed life into the
Peoples Democratic Party which lost its prime position to the APC. At the end
of intrigues and drama that followed the battle for the four presiding
officers’ positions in the National Assembly, all the candidates of the APC
lost to the candidates backed by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Senate
President, Dr. Bukola Saraki raising the gavel at the inauguration of the 8th
National Assembly in Abuja, yesterday In his immediate reaction to the
emergence of the National Assembly presiding officers, President Muhammadu
Buhari acknowledged that a constitutional process has occurred in the election
even though he wished the process had followed the initiative by the APC.
Senator
Bukola Saraki of the APC was returned unopposed as Senate President as the game
of intrigues which played through Monday night to the early hours caught the
APC leadership on the wrong side. His emergence was facilitated by the solid
backing of the 49-member strong PDP caucus with unalloyed support from APC
Senators from Zamfara, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kogi and Kwara States.
As part of the quid pro quo from the PDP, the
Saraki elements backed the return of Senator Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP as
Deputy President of the Senate, the first time a bipartisan leadership was
enthroned in the Senate.
The emergence of Saraki and Ekweremadu bounced
off negatively for the official APC candidate in the House of Representatives,
Femi Gbajabiamila, who lost to the unofficial APC candidate, Yakubu Dogara.
Gbajabiamila was also widely reported to be strongly backed by the party leader
and former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The rout
of the APC leaders’ choices was completed late last night when the party’s
candidate for Deputy Speaker, Tahir Monguno also lost to the unofficial
candidate backed by the PDP, Lashan Yusuf.
The
contest for the deputy was after Gbajabiamila had, after his defeat, spurned
entreaties from the Dogara camp to take the position of Deputy Speaker. Rep.
Leo Ogor, coordinator of the PDP in the chambers and Deputy Leader of the House
in the Seventh House of Representatives also spurned the offer.
Saraki’s
emergence as Senate President was preceded by hard negotiations and intrigues
that played for most of Monday night into the early hours of Tuesday. Game of
intrigues Having rejected last Saturday’s internal party caucus which it
claimed was skewed to favour Senator Ahmad Lawan who emerged official candidate
of the party, Senator Saraki had through Monday made moves to concretise an
alliance with the PDP which came into the Eighth Senate with 49 members
compared with the 59 seats occupied by his own party, APC.
PDP leaders, including virtually all governors
belonging to the party in meetings gave their commitment to Senator Saraki
after it emerged that 41 out of the 49 senators-elect in the party were already
committed to him. That was based on the strong lobby put forward by Ekweremadu,
Senator Andy Uba and former Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio. The PDP
senators, it was learnt, saw Saraki who served two terms as governor and a
Senate term on the platform of the party as a prodigal son of better
consideration than an enemy which they saw in Lawan.
However, consideration was given to the strong
support being given Senator Lawan by immediate past Senate President, Senator
David Mark, who had for the past eight years had Lawan as part of his inner
caucus. Besides was the lack of cordiality between Saraki and Mark. Upon the
strong support for Saraki, governors and members of the PDP National Working
Committee, NWC including the immediate past chairman of the Board of Trustees
of the party, Chief Tony Anenih persuaded Mark to drop his objection to Saraki
in the interest of party unity.
Mark, according to sources, heeded the appeal
and immediately brought relief to all present at the high-level meeting.
However, the quid pro quo was that Senator Ekweremadu would run for the office
of Deputy President of the Senate.
Upon the agreement which was sealed sometime
around 2.a.m yesterday morning, Saraki and his entourage moved over to Senator
Mark’s Apo Mansion residence where he thanked the immediate past Senate
President for his hand of conciliation and support. Mark, according to sources,
was visibly moved by the entreaty from Saraki and further reaffirmed his
support.
The PDP
quickly issued a statement following the agreement with a directive to
senators-elect and members-elect on the platform of the party to vote for
Saraki and Dogara in the leadership contest in the two chambers.
The APC
meanwhile had the previous night been making furtive attempts at
reconciliation. A move by Lawan to reach Saraki according to sources was
frustrated by Saraki who put himself out of reach to the party leadership.
Early yesterday morning the APC, apparently
aiming to undercut the agreement reached between the Saraki/Dogara groups and
the PDP, summoned a meeting with all senators-elect and members-elect using the
name of the president, Muhammadu Buhari who had just returned from his outing
at the G7 summit in Germany.
To give vent to the meeting, security was
tightened around the National Assembly complex and senators-elect and
members-elect were initially refused entry. However, supporters of Saraki and
Dogara were quick to dismiss the meeting as they alleged that the president did
not summon the meeting as they accused the party leadership of using the name
of the president.
Meanwhile as if bound by some agreements, the
rebel APC senators-elect shortly before 10.00 a.m. drove into the National
Assembly complex within a ten-minute period to team up with the 49
senators-elect from the PDP.
At exactly, 10:03, the Clerk of the National
Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, began the day’s business with the roll call,
after which it was discovered that out of the 108 senators-elect, only 57 were
in attendance, leaving 52 others, mostly of the APC fold still outside. At that
time, the 33 senators-elect committed to Senator Lawan, the party’s official
candidate were still waiting for President Buhari who was nowhere to be found
at the International Conference Centre, about two kilometres away.
Seated,
waiting were members of the National Working Committee of the APC led by the
National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former
Abia state governor, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, former Interim National Chairman of the
party, Chief Bisi Akande and Yobe state governor, Ibrahim Geidam.
Meanwhile
in the Senate chambers, with a quorum in place, senators-elect were asked to
confirm their attendance in a roll call. Remarkably, Senator Saraki’s entry
into the hall was hailed by wide applause from the seated senators-elect.
Following the roll call, the Clerk of the
National Assembly read the proclamation address to him from the president. He
thereafter, requested the senators-elect to nominate someone among themselves
for the position of the Senate President and Senator Ahmad Sani, Yeriman Bakura
(APC, Zamfara Central), immediately nominated Senator Saraki and he was
seconded by Senator Dino Melaye, APC, Kogi West.
After the
first nomination, Salisu, again, requested for other nominations, but there was
a deafening silence as no other nomination for the post of Senate President was
made and he immediately closed nomination upon which Saraki was adopted as the
sole candidate and returned unopposed as the Senate President.
Meanwhile,
word of the development in the National Assembly reached the ICC, forcing a
break-up of the meeting as APC senators-elect waiting for the president started
dashing back to the National Assembly.
After his election, he was immediately sworn
in by the Clerk of the National Assembly following which he asked
senators-elect to make nomination for Deputy President of the Senate. Senator
George Sekibo from Rivers State nominated Senator Ekweremadu for the position
of the Deputy Senate President and he was seconded by his kinsman,
Senator-elect, Olaka Nwogu.
Senator Ndume was nominated for the same
position, setting the stage for an epic battle that however, melted into an
easy sail for Ekweremadu who won with 54 votes to 20. He becomes the first
senator to be elected to the office three times and the first principal officer
of the National Assembly in either House to be elected presiding officer three
straight times.
The
defeat of the official APC candidates immediately translated into a bounce for
Dogara who had formed a partnership with Saraki in the rebellion against the
official candidates of the party.
The election of Saraki as the Senate President
prompted wild jubilation on the floor of the House of Representatives,
especially among the supporters of Dogara. Hon. Emeka Azubugu (Anambra PDP)
brought the news at exactly 10.19 a.m. and Pat Asadu, (Enugu PDP) walked and
signalled the victory of Saraki to the members. Amid the jubilations, members
began to sing solidarity songs like “All we are saying, give us Dogara”,
“solidarity forever, we shall always fight for our rights”.
The songs
later gave way to shouts of “Dogara, Dogara”, in unison. But the chants changed
when Femi Gbajabiamila rushed in into the chamber from the ICC at 11.00 a.m.
apparently to undercut a unanimous vote for Dogara. His entry also led to a
chorus of his name by his supporters.
While his
fans shouted “Sai Gbajabiamila”, Dogara’s supporters in a surprise response
loudly re-echoed “Sai Dogara”, meaning “It is Dogara”. The mother of all
chants, however, came when Dogara walked into the chamber at 11:12 a.m.
But feeling provoked, Gbajabiamila’s
supporters joined the fray in the chants, showing a clear division of the
camps. This continued until 11:58 a.m. when the Clerk of the National Assembly,
Mr. Maikasuwa came into the chamber and introduced himself as the clerk
It took
about 30 minutes for the house to get ready for the election. At exactly 12:33,
the House was called to order with the clerk reading the proclamation letter
from President Buhari. Following the letter, the roll call of members-elect was
taken and it lasted for 25 minutes between 12:35 pm and 1:pm in alphabetical
order of the states. In the end, 358 members were announced by the clerk to be
present.
In line
with Section 60 of the 1999 constitution and Order 2, Rule 4 of the standing
rule of the House, Hon. Abdulmumin Jubrin from Kano State nominated Dogara as a
candidate for the speakership. The motion was seconded by Hon. Dike Okafor, a
member from Imo State.
Thereafter,
Dogara stood up and acknowledged the nomination. He said: “I rise to accept my
nomination as the speaker of the 8th House of Representatives”. His acceptance
was greeted with standing ovation by his supporters, prompting shouts of
“unopposed”.
When this
died down, Hon. Mohammadu Saleh from Bauchi State also moved another motion,
nominating Gbajabiamila. The motion was also seconded by Hon. Shuaibu Philip
from Edo State. “It is with great humbly and profound gratitude that I accept
my nomination for the speakership position of the 8th House Of
Representatives”, he said.
With the rituals concluded at exactly 1:21pm,
the clerk later said “We are proceeding with the election and according to the
rule. The election will be by secret balloting.” Voting formally commenced at
1:27 pm and ended at exactly 3:31 pm with sorting and collation of results
commencing almost immediately. In the end, Dogara was announced the winner with
182 votes to 174 votes.
Democracy in action.
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